Tip-sy Tuesday: cutting board for rolling cookies

I posted this in '15, the post was about organizing cookie cutters and I threw in this little side tip that I think deserves it's own post because it's something I do all the time and you might have lost it in thee shuffle! When rolling sugar cookies (or any dough that I'm going to cut shapes out of) I use the back side of my big wood cutting board (I use the back side because the front side has a groove around the edge to catch juices from when we slice meat), lightly flour and roll out smaller balls of dough to keep on the board. This makes cleaning up the mess so much easier - when I flour the counter it ends up everywhere and this way it pretty much stays on the board. 

11.30.20: penne alla vodka 

11.30.19: margarita cupcakes

11.30.18: pinecone gnome

11.30.17: golf glove counter

11.30.16: pumpkin bread

11.30.15: pill box travel organizer

Man-day Monday: Stuffed Burgers

I haven't had a 'Man-day Monday' post in forever!! This could just be a regular recipe post but I love saying 'Man-day Monday' and Mark (the man of today's man-day hahaha) sent me this recipe so I'm combining the two!! This looks so good and I'll definitely be making it - possibly for lunch today since I have to go to the grocery store anyway and not sure I can wait to try it - I've stuffed burger with cheese (click here for that post) but never with veggies and I think it's a great idea. Thanks for sharing Mark! 

STUFFED BURGERS:

-1# Burger 
-Chopped onion  
-Chopped tomato 
-Grated cheese

Sauté onion first. Divide burger to 1/4# each and form into a boat. Add tomato to sauté until it cooks down. Spoon sautéed veggies along with grated cheese into burger boats then close them up. Cook to your desired temp then top with more grated cheese!

11.29.20: 🔥 week 48

11.29.19: all the green things salad
11.29.18: pinecone elves

11.29.17: smoothie bowl

11.29.16: make a pocket towel for the guest room
11.29.15: mini pineapple-upside-down cakes

🔥 Around the Campfire (week 48)

 Dear Campers ~

Here's a recap of what happened at MMDC last week in case you missed anything:

11/21: 🔥 week 47

11/22: baked brie with fig preserves

11/23: tip-sy tuesday: egg shells

11/24: buffalo-less chicken dip

11/25: quickie plate stand

11/26: black friday

11/27: corn and tomato saute

What's Cooking ~

• grilled lamb chops, wedge salad
• marinated pork tenderloin, herbed rice, chopped salad
• baked stuffed salmon, green beans
• turkey, turkey, and more turkey
• leftover turkey and fixings
• baked chicken, basmati rice, roasted broccoli

That's it for this seemingly short week! Flew by didn't it? Hope you had a very happy Thanksgiving - now I'm off to put up some Christmas things :) Stop back next week for more crafts, recipes, whatever else I can think of to make at camp - bye!

Sincerely ~

Jill

camp counselor

11.28.20: cast iron blackened salmon

11.28.19: Thanksgiving '19

11.28.18: Cathy's rolled oats cake

11.28.16: felt feather barrettes

11.28.15: pompom purse charm

Corn and Cherry Tomato Saute

I have 2 recipes in my book right next to each other for different corn dishes made in a skillet - I'll give you both of them. I couldn't decide which to make last night so I combined the two for one delicious and easy side dish! 

I love corn. Have I told you that before? hahahahah. 

CREAMY CORN SKILLET

• 5 fresh ears of corn
• 1/4 cup butter
• 2 - 4 T. sugar
• 1 T. cornmeal
• salt and pepper to taste

Remove husks and silk from corn; cut kernels from cobs (you should have about 2 1/2 cups). In a large heavy skillet melt butter. Stir in corn, sugar, and cornmeal. Cover and cook over medium-low heat for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Let stand 10 minutes. Makes 6 servings.

each serving: 152 cal, 9g fat, 19g carb, 2g fiber

CORN AND LITTLE TOMATO SAUTÉ

• 2 t. each olive oil and butter
• 3 ears fresh corn, kernels cut from cobs (about 1 1/2 cups)
• 1 pint mixed little tomatoes (such as cherry, grape, and pear)
• 1/3 cup chopped chives
• 1/2 t. each salt and pepper

Heat oil and butter in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Stir in corn and tomatoes and sauté 2 - 3 minutes or until tomatoes just begin to split. Remove from heat; stir in chives, salt and pepper. Makes 4 servings.

each serving: 100 cal, 5g fat, 14g carb, 3g fiber

*To combine the two recipes I melted 2 t. butter and 2 t. olive oil in a large skillet. Add 2 cups frozen corn kernels, sprinkle with approx. 1 T. sugar and 1 T. cornmeal (I didn't measure, just a big pinch of both), salt and pepper to taste. Cook over medium until the corn is hot and golden, stirring frequently - about 15 minutes. With a few minutes to go I added a big handful of cherry tomatoes. 

Black Friday '21

This post is from a couple years ago, it made me laugh all over again so I'm sharing in case you'd also like to laugh at my life hahahahah! Taking the day off from making anything, other than maybe making you laugh! Happy Black Friday (is that what I should be saying? Happy and black Friday might be an oxymoron)! See you tomorrow :)

Dave wanted me to run to Walmart this morning to get some blue stuff to put down the RV drain, I said 'no way - it's Black Friday. At Walmart. Do you not hear about the fights and riots at Walmart on Black Friday?'. He said 'no one will be in the RV section you'll be fine'.

Insert eye roll.

No, I did not go get blue stuff.

11.26.20: happy thanksgiving '20

11.26.19: tip-sy tuesday: aluminum foil

1.26.18: Miss Lori's Christmas wreath

11.26.17: birds on a wire artwork

11.26.16: mulled cider

Last Minute Plate Stand

This was originally posted in '15, but I came across it this morning and thought I'd share in case you need/want a last minute food stand for cookies or whatever! Super easy and you can put it together in seconds...Happy Thanksgiving!! 

Here's the post from 11/16/15:

For Thanksmas I made cookies - half shaped as turkeys, the other half I did Christmas shapes -  I'm going to have everyone frost their own (will they choose Thanksgiving or Christmas?).  I didn't have a stand to put them on so I stuck a plate and a plant container together to create a temporary one using craft putty/earthquake putty/museum putty (whatever you want to call it!), that way I can take them apart afterwards.

There are other ways to join the pieces together depending on how permanent you want it - you can hot glue them together and still get them apart later by placing the stand in the freezer for a half hour to shrink and harden the glue making it easier to peel off, or for a more permanent solution use craft adhesive. I probably wouldn't use my nice or sentimental dishes to make a stand just in case something went wrong with the hot glue or adhesive though! I got this plate at the craft store on sale and used an old plant container that was in the garage - I tied a bow around it so you can't see how stained the pot is :)

11.25.20: how to roast a turkey

11.25.19: cork turkeys

11.25.18: 🔥 week 47

11.25.17: oatmeal scotchies 

11.25.16: zehnders cranberry relish

11.25.15: turkey napkin folding

Meghan's Buffalo-less Chicken Dip

I'm sorry I don't have a picture of this amazing dip that Meghan made for Mickey's birthday party a couple weeks ago - it's sooooo good and in case you want an appetizer idea for this Thanksgiving weekend I want to share even without a photo. The recipe is actually for Buffalo Chicken Dip but she made it mild for Mick who doesn't like spicy. For the 'buffalo-less' version leave the hot sauce out and just add more ranch, she serves the hot sauce on the side. 

Here's her recipe, she doesn't have amounts other than for the cream cheese, just mix cooked chopped chicken with ranch until it has the consistency you want and sprinkle the top with the cheddar cheese before baking until heated thru and cheesey. YUM, seriously this is SO good!! 

 Buffalo-Less Chicken Dip

1. BOIL chicken and piece it

2. Ranch and Red hot wings Buffalo sauce - same amounts 

3. Sharp cheddar brick shredded 

4. 1 - 8oz cream cheese

5. Melt together and bake with shredded cheese on top! 

Tip-sy Tuesday: egg shells

Quick tip, and one I use all the time - if you crack eggs into a pan or bowl and a little piece of shell breaks off just scoop it out with a larger piece of shell. Something about the shell attracting shell, don't know why but it does. Much better than trying to pick it out with your fingers! 

The reason lots of cookbooks tell you to break eggs into a bowl before adding to the pan or whatever you're making is in case a piece of shell ends up in your food - but I rarely do that because I will avoid dirtying another dish at all costs hahahah. Most of the time I crack them right into whatever I'm preparing and scoop any runaway shell with a larger shell. 

No pictures, imagine a piece of shell in your scrambled eggs and then imagine scooping it out using a larger shell! 

11.23.20: 🔥week 47

11.23.19: turkey gravy (I'm telling ya - it's foolproof!)

11.23.18: fabric bread basket

11.23.16: make ahead mashed potatoes 

11.23.15: organize your cookie cutters

Baked Brie with Fig Preserves

 Mickey went to her friend Meghan's for Friendsgiving dinner over the weekend and sent me this picture:

Then we had this text conversation - because while it looks good, I had no idea what it is:

This seems like a great appetizer so I wanted to share in case you need one more app for Thanksgiving (or whenever! Her one suggestion is to bake it on parchment paper so it doesn't stick...

Roll out crescent dough, spread fig preserves all over the dough leaving a gap around the edges, fold the dough over a wheel of brie cheese. (She didn't send me a pic before she baked it). Bake at 375' for 25 minutes. Slice into wedges (or scoop out if it sticks haha!). 

11.22.19: Thanksgiving and your dog

11.22.18: mashed butternut and acorn squash

11.22.17: turkey cheeseball (and cranberry relish, green bean casserole)

11.22.16: herb butter

11.22.15: nutella stuffed chocolate chip cookies 

🔥 Around the Campfire (week 47)

Dear Campers ~

Here's a very short recap of what happened at camp last week while I was on a road trip to Florida:

Posts ~

11/14: 🔥week 46

11/15: pinecone wreath with feathers

11/16: tip-sy tuesday: cincinnati chili

11/17: chocolate zucchini brownies

11/18: porcupine meatballs

11/19: cauliflower mac and cheese

11/20: how to roast a turkey

That's it!! Seriously we were in the car for 5 days straight so there's nothing else I can catch you up on - I didn't read, didn't cook, nothing else! Hope you had a good week, stop by next week for more recipes, crafts, etc. Bye!

Sincerely ~

Jill

camp counselor

11.21.20: maple dijon chicken thighs

11.21.19: MSIH: butternut mac and cheese

11.21.18: lightbulb pear

11.21.17: yarn-wrapped bottle

11.21.16: how to make turkey gravy

11.21.15: Sarge's birthday pupcakes